Well, I hadn't heard this album before this event, and I can't say it's easy listening either. It certainly has some of the deepest and most thoughtful lyrics I've heard in a country album released in the last decade.
I think it is a fantastic album, the instrumentation is excellent and unintrusive and Brown's voice is fantastically gritty and has a unique edge. In some ways it reminds me of Bob Dylan in "Time out of Mind", in some ways it's completely dissimilar to anything else I've come across.
To "whet" your appetite in case you haven't heard it yet, I invite you now to listen to track 3 - "Cold+Dark+Wet", one of my favourites and an unusually playful yet laid back sound. Enjoy!
I fell in love like a drunk in a pond.
That twisted gal of whom I was fond,
She found a new man on the internet.
Wham I'm spam and it's cold and dark and wet.
Tell me what is a fella supposed to do
When a car costs what a house used to
And a house is a pile of chipboard, paint, and debt.
I'm at the city limits and it's cold and dark and wet
Big rig rolling over me in a blizzard -
I'm living on beans and chicken gizzards.
One day I was young, the next day I was old.
Late November, it's wet and dark and cold.
Jobs, I guess they're like wild geese -
They all went flying overseas.
I'm standing in the rain smoking my last cigarette.
Morning in America is cold and dark and wet.
Christmas lights are going up,
I could use a little joy juice in my cup.
Life is not a walk across the park,
Not when it's wet and cold and dark.
Well, it's very unusual, but I personally found it a great listen. What do you think?
EDIT: Lisnaholic: It is on Spotify if you're having trouble finding it elsewhere: